Tah-dah!
Mark and Bruce at Real Food Has Curves (what an irresistible name!) wrote a three-post recipe for Paris-Brest, a French pastry traditionally made to celebrate and nourish athletes at the end of the long Paris to Brest bike race. Created in 1891, the wheel-shaped ring of choux pastry is filled with crème pralinée and sweetened whipped cream.
I had to walk to the shops twice to buy necessary ingredients – not quite the 1200km between Paris and Brest – but I figured that justified me eating a generous slice nonetheless.
The guys have written the best instructions I’ve come across yet for choux pastry, and I’m confident that it’s something I’ll be baking regularly from now on. I won’t repost their recipe here, but will instead refer you directly to their first post: Paris-Brest, Part 1.
I followed their instructions to the letter to make the nougatine and choux pastry, but substituted my own recipe for crème pâtissière (forgive me, Bruce!), which is made in the microwave in just a few minutes.
The nougatine, also known as almond praline, was remarkably simple to create from icing sugar mixture and flaked almonds. Yet another useful addition to my dessert répertoire! Here’s a photo of it before it was pulverised and added to the pastry cream…
Some assembly photos :
Choux pastry ring cut open for filling…
Crème pralinée, made by folding the crumbled nougatine through the pastry cream, was spread over the base, then topped with sweetened whipped cream, piped in a swirly pattern…
Here’s the finished pastry, dusted with icing sugar…
I let this set up in the fridge for a couple of hours before attempting to cut it, as the cream was quite soft. It sliced beautifully after that.
Now, time to ring the neighbours and share the love around!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Bootiful! Just Bootiful !! :)
I was one of the lucky neighbours – truly magnifique!
Thanks again Celia
Pete V
My pleasure, Pete! Thanks for helping us eat it – I wasn’t sure how we were going to manage otherwise! :)
Brian has been to the shops for almonds and cream – and I am about to run fleet footed round the woods in training for eating this (Celia invited me to a bake-off, in case anyone is wondering what I am on about! I have faced my fear of the Choux, it’s not so bad really, just messy)
Unfortunately all our neighbours are out, what are we going to do?
Maybe you can have a Mad Baker’s Tea Party! :)
Joanna (Zeb) sent me a photo of her PB – here it is – isn’t it gorgeous?
Thanks, Celia, for being so enthusiastic about making it. You’ve only managed to confirm my already-set-in-stone stereotype that Australians are the best foodies on the planet.
Mark, thank you to both you and Bruce for such great instructions! And a few hours of fun.. :)
Absolutely drool worthy! Crisp, fresh choux pastry is my downfall and I would happily dive into this creation! :D
Looks pretty spesh Celia! I love choux and cream together, but can’t really be bothered with filling profiteroles one by one. This is a great alternative.
And thank you for adding me to your favourite sites! I’m so flattered! (a couple of extra exclamation marks for emphasis!)!!!!!
Lorraine, me too! But I have to keep telling myself in my best Elmo voice…”Paris-Brest is a sometimes food…” :)
Kate, your blog IS one of my favourite sites! :)
That looks sensational Celia. Where is my slice? I think you need to move north….. :)
My dear dairy-intolerant, gluten-intolerant friend…trust me, this was not for you. :)
Bah humbug!
And I bet it tasted as good as it looks!
This is my first visit and you’ve got me hooked! Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for dropping by, Meaghan! :)
This looks absolutely amazing! I had the sudden urge to reach out and grab a bite, the damn computer monitor got in my way! I will be making this sooner rather than later. thank you for sharing.
Thanks Amy! Make sure you have lots of eaters, this isn’t a small dessert! :)